Steak skinner



Nov. 25, 1952 R. T. rowNsEND 2,619,143

STEAK SKINNER Filed Aug. S1, 1948 Patented Nov. 25, 1952 STEAK SKINNER Ray T. Townsend, Des Moines, Iowa, assgnort'o Townsend Engineering Company, Des Moines, Iowa, a corporation of IowaI Application-.August 31, 1948, Serial No. 47,127

2 Claims.

This invention has to do with machines for skinning beef pieces.

The. outer skin, or hide, of beef is removed in an ordinary manner, such as by a hand operation; there is another skin-like membrane on the beef which is not removed by the usual Skinning operation. It is desired that this membrane be removed by a machine operation, but such has been dicult, if not impossible, due to the nature of' the membrane. and the types of machines heretofore known.

The membrane is of a stringy nature, i. e., while it is actually a sheet, it is made up of strings held together by a weaker material. Most Skinning machines include a toothed roller and a concave pressure shoev which partially surrounds the roller; upon rotation of the roller and cooperation of the shoe therewith, the membrane of the beef piece is gripped between the roller and shoe. and removed from the. piece.

Duevv to the stringy nature of the membrane, the membrane becomesv bound in the teeth of the roller, inthe. case of. old type Skinning machines, and soon a point is. reached where operations must. cease and the roller cleaned.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a machine for Skinning. beef .pieces by means of which the above notedA objections are obviated.

Another object is the provision. of such a skinning machine which the strings of the membrane are constantly being cut into short lengths.

Still another object is the provision of such a Skinning machine having a toothed, roller in which the teeth are specially arranged to cut the strings as above referred to.

l Another Objectis the provision of such askinning machine having the specific constrllCtion wherein the teeth constantly change in angular position with respect to a given pointv on the periphery ofthe roller.` p With these and other objects in view, myinvention consistsin the construction, arrangement and combination ofthe various, parts of my` device whereby the objectsfcontemplated are attained', 'as yhereinafter more A,fully set Y forth, pointed outl in myclaims and illustrated'in the accompanying drawinga wherein y Figure. l is a side elevational viewfoffthe upper portion-oi (a, Skinning machine vembodying'thc if@ positions, and portions of the mounting in section; and

Figure 3 is a detail view of one of the rings which make up the Skinning roller.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the skinning machine shown in Figure 1 includes a frame structure I2 upon which is mounted a Skinning roller indicatedgenerally at I4. Cooperating with the Skinning roller I4 is a pressureshoe I6 having a concave surface I8 adapted to partially surround the roller. The pressure shoe includes a skinning blade 20, which forms an extension of the peripheral concave surface I8 and is positioned substantially tangential to the roller I4. The roller I4 is provided with teeth. Reference is directed to my copending application, Serial No. 680,939, led June 2, 1946, which became Patent No. 2,522,728 on September 9, 1950, wherein a toothed roller, a pressure shoe, and a tangential Skinning blade are disclosed and claimed.

The roller I4 is mounted in side members 22 which are mounted on the frame I2. The pressure shoe I6 is pivoted at 24 in arms 26 which i-n turn are pivoted at 28 in the side members 22. The pressure shoe I6 and its mounting on the arms 26 are disclosed and claimed in my copending application, Serial No. 18,204, led March 3l, 1948. The means for bringing the pressure shoe into and out of operable relationship with the Skinning; roller is also disclosed in detail in the second copending application referred to above.

For purposes of convenience a brief description will be given of the general operation of the Skinning machine. A tray 30 is mounted 0n the top of the frame and the tray has an inclined bottom or deck 32 whichl terminates adjacent the ,top ofthe Skinning roller I4. A piece of meat isplaced` on the tray and lmoved ontoj thetop, of the roller. The 'skin-like membrane referred 'to above is gripped by the, roller and pressure shoe, with the' Skinningy blade 2,0 serving to 'severftle membrane from vthe meat. The membrane fis carried bythe roller betweenftheroller and'pfressureshoe, andfthe meat passes over the topof the pressureshoe.

Referring 'totheV specific constructiorr lSkinning roller 'I4 attention is directed to Figures "2 and 3i The'frame I2 includesar'niember 34px'- thdinsl transversely. across the. 'machnefad-lirectly 'supports theside' Ainemb'ers22.".l ',Ifhe side members 22 have aligned openings for- ..thereception cfa shaft 36. "The shaft has4 reduced'end portions, 3a. which arejpurnaued' in bearings 4.o mounted in the.v openings, ofv the side, members l2,2.

At one end the shaft B has an extension 42 for connecting to a power drive, such as an electric motor. The shaft 3S has a main enlarged portion having a keyway and key 44.

The numeral 15S indicates individual rings mounted on the shaft and cooperating therewith to form the roller. Each ring 46 is in the shape of a plane which is disposed at an acute angle with respect to the axis of the ring. Each ring includes a main portion L58 having a plurality of teeth 5G spaced around its periphery. The teeth 5E are disposed in lines parallel with the axis of the ring. At the inner marginal edge of the ring is an annular shoulder 52 or generally axial projection extending to one side of the ring. The projection 52 extends perpendicular to the plane of the ring and is, of course, disposed at an angle to the axis of the ring. The inner marginal edge of the ring is provided with an axial keyvvay 54.

A plurality of rings d are placed on the shaft 36 with their respective projections 52 extending all in one direction. Mounted on each end of the main portion of the shaft outwardly of the rings is a Wedge ring 56. rhe outer surface of each wedge ring 55 lies in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the shaft. The assembly is secured together by lock nuts 53 threaded on the outer ends of the main portion of the shaft.

In the assembly of the toothed rings e on the shaft, stripper plates G0 are included, see Figure l. Each stripper plate has a main portion which is circular and of a diameter less than 'the outer diameter of the toothed rings 38, and a portion 62 which extends beyond the periphery of the toothed rings 4B and is adapted to engage the portion 34 on the frame of the machine.

The thickness of each stripper plate is less than the axial dimension between the main portions of adjacent toothed rings so that the stripper plates are free for movement axially on the shaft a limited amount. r'he central opening in the stripper plate SEI is such that it fits over the respective projections 52 loosely so that the stripper plates will not be carried around with the roller in the rotation of the latter, the stripper plates being prevented from rotating by the portion 34 of the frame of the machine.

Shield rings e5 are fitted on reduced portions of the side members 22, and outwardly of the shield rings are enlarged portions Se of the side members 22, which have curved portions extending radially slightly beyond the toothed rings 4%. The enlarged portions are adapted to be engaged by the pressure shoe i6, preventing clashing of the teeth by the pressure shoe.

Use and operation As mentioned above, the piece of meat from which the membrane is to be removed passes over the top of the roller, the roller rotating clockwise as viewed in 1. In this manner the pieces of meat travel in a line which lies in a plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of the roller. For convenience such lines are indicated at 68, and 'E2 in Fig-.ire 2. Atte tion directed to the fact that the different groups of rings in Figure 2 are all aline and all of the rings in the assembled roller would all be orientated in the same direction. However, the various tions of the rings at vario the roller are shown in Fi I Assuming the rings to be in t e position shown at the right in Figure will be noted that the string of the membrane is disposed at an angle to the planes of the rings and will not pos:-

steps of rotation of fall into the space between the adjacent rings. The rings in the position at the right of Figure 2 indicate the position just before they begin to assume an angle in the opposite direction. The lower ends E2 of the stripper plates are being forced to the right by reason of which the stripper plates are in close engagement with the respective rings at the left thereof. At the right of each stripper plate is a slight space indicated at 'I4 between the stripper plates and the rings to the right.

After reaching the position at the right in Figure 2, the rings on further rotation thereof, approach and reach the position shown at the center, and in moving to that position, the rings are forced to the left. The stripper plates are therefore in tight engagement with the respective rings at the right thereof, and there are spaces between the plates and the rings at the left. This position is shown in the center in Figure 2.

Continued rotation of the rollers swings the lower ends of the stripper plates to the left as shown at the left. In this case also the stripper plates are in tight engagement with the respective rings at the right.

Upon further rotation of the roller, the stripper plates are swung to the right again and in this event the stripper plates are in the position shown in dot-dash lines in the middle in Figure 2. When the rings and stripper plates again reach the position shown at the right in Figure 2, the cycle has been completed.

It will thus be seen that the stripper plates wobble and move from side to side in the spaces between adjacent rings. At one time or another the strings of the membrane, as represented by the lines 6B, '16, and 'i2 will fall into the grooves or spa-ces between adjacent rings. After the position indicated at the left is reached, the strings are again disposed at an angle to the grooves. The strings then fall into the spaces between the stripper plates and rings at only certain points in the periphery of the roller, and as the stripper plates are caused to move to the opposite sides of the grooves, they cut the strings when they engage the rings.

The strings are thus cut each time the stripper plates change direction in their wobbling movement. This prevents the strings from continually winding up on the roller and becoming bound.

While I have shown a particular embodiment of my invention, it will be understood of course, that I do not wish to be limited thereto since many modifications may be made, and I therefore contemplate by the claims appended hereto to cover any such modifications or substitutions of equivalents as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim:

l. A machine for removing skin from an object comprising a frame, a driven rotatable roller journalled in said frame, a pressure shoe mounted on said frame, said pressure shoe having a reduced leading edge adjacent the rollel` for parting the skin from said object, said pressure shoe having a concave portion surrounding a substantial portion of said roller and closely spaced therefrom when said pressure shoe is in the position it assumes during the slrinning operation, said roller having a skin gripping surface thereon cooperating with said pressure shoe to pull said skin past leading edge, a plurality of axially spaced rings secured on said roller for rotation therewith and extending in planes substantially inclined at an angle with respect to the perpendicular to the axis of said roller, said rings including peripheral teeth defining said skin gripping surface on said roller, plates each thinner than the spacings between said rings loosely disposed around said roller between said rings and having portions projecting radially beyond said teeth, said projecting plate portions being swingabl-e axially of said roller and therefore capable of alternately engaging opposed edges of adjacent rings as said roller is rotated, and means for holding said plates against rotation with said roller when said rol-1er is r-otated in a skinning operation.

2. A machine for removing skin from an object comprising a frame, a driven rotatable roller journalled in said frame, a pressure shoe mounted on said frame, said pressure shoe having a reduced leading edge adjacent the roller for parting the skin from said object, said pressure shoe having a concave portion surrounding a substantial portion of said roller and closely spaced therefrom when said pressure shoe is in the position it assumes during the Skinning operation, said roller having a skin grip-ping surface thereon cooperating with said pressure shoe to pull said skin past said leading edge, a plurality of axially spaced rings secured on said roller for rotation therewith and extending in planes substantially inclined at an angle with respect to the perpendicular to the axis of said roller, said rings including peripheral teeth defining said skin gripping surface on said roller, plates each thinner than the spacings between said rings loosely disposed around said roller between said 6 rings and having portions projecting radially beyond said teeth, said projecting plate portions being swingable axially of said roller and therefore capable of alternately engaging opposed edges of adjacent rings as said roller is rotated, and means for holding said plates against rotation with said roller when said roller is rotated in a Skinning operation, said plates when so held having their surfaces then opposed to said concave pressure shoe portion extending radially short of said skin gripping roller surface.

RAY T. TOWNSEND.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

